Temporally Misplaced
by Adhara Tamar
Summary: The Doctor and Rose find an enigma in the form of a girl in the middle of London that sets them off on an adventure complete with kidnappings and alien plots. Crossover with Laurie R. King's Mary Russell series.
1. Chapter 1

Crack! The sound of flesh against flesh rang through the Powell Estate, closely followed by an outraged cry of pain.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" the Doctor cried, cradling his newly reddened cheek with his hand. _Innocent, go for the innocent,_ he thought. After sneaking a peak at Jackie's rather murderous expression, however, he quickly and wisely decided to change tracts. After all, he knew very well what he had done to earn that most feared punishment: a Tyler slap. "Right, skip that last, but honestly, Jackie, it wasn't what it looked like, well, it was, but still…" He continued to babble, now backing away from the slowly advancing human. He shot a desperate look at Rose, begging her to help. After all, this was as much her fault as it was his. He was slightly irked, but not surprised, that his loyal companion was trying but failing to not dissolve into peals of laughter. He sighed, supposing that it must look ridiculous for him, the last Time Lord, the Oncoming Storm for Pete's sake, to be almost quaking in front of a blonde Londoner.

Rose finally relented, saying, "Mum, really, leave him alone! It was only a bit of a snog, 't's not like I'm pregnant or anything!" _Oh, that was probably a stupid thing to say._ The thought echoed through both Time Lord and human minds. _Yeah, definitely not a good thing._

Jackie turned slowly on her heel to face her daughter. She didn't screech, which made it all the worse. "You've been doing THAT too?"

The Doctor took full advantage of the momentary shock and, reaching around Jackie, grabbed Rose's hand and whispered, "Run!"

The twosome flew out of the apartment, down the stairs and didn't stop running for a number of blocks. Both were beginning to pant a bit, but grinned manically at each other.

The Doctor, recovering first, pointed at Rose, saying with mock indignation, "Oi! You, what'd you mean 'just a bit of a snog'? I'd've thought that rated more than that!"

"Not to swell your already stuffed head, but I'll admit, that was downright fantastic. I just had to say that to get Mum calmed down." She grimaced, adding, "Alright, so that didn't really work according to plan. Still wasn't how I wanted her to find out 'bout us, though."

The Doctor, smirking at her admission of his skills in a certain department, felt a curious swelling feeling somewhere in the general vicinity of his hearts at her casual use of the word 'us'. Their relationship was such a new development and still made him dizzy at the thought that he could actually act on all those impulses he had been stifling for so long.

He grabbed her hand, pulling her to him, saying "Fancy another go?"

She smiled up at him, wrapping her arms around him for a brief, but sincere hug, then stepped away. "Not in the middle of the street, but how 'bout an encore later?" She reclaimed his hand, laughing at his pout.

The couple wandered hand in hand, not caring where they went, being completely content just to be together. They strolled through a park, admiring the peaceful scenery of a world at rest. It was a welcome change from their customary routine of running for their lives. Of course, things couldn't stay that way for more than a few hours when the Doctor was around.

"…So there we were, just hanging by the very end of my fourth self's scarf, always was attached to that scarf, knew it would come in handy. Just goes to show how brilliant and well prepared I am! Always ready for anything, me." He looked offended as Rose snorted at this last. "I'll have you know, Miss Tyler, that …" After a minute, realizing that the Doctor wasn't finishing that thought, Rose looked up only to see her lover gazing sharply at something in the distance. She craned her neck around and squinted in the same direction. There was nothing of interest that she could see, or at least nothing overtly out of the ordinary. People were strolling down the pathway, a girl was sitting on a bench reading, here and there children ran about, all normal human activities.

"What is it, Doctor?" she asked gently. Getting no response, she poked him, asking, "Doctor?"

"Hmm?" He slowly focused back on his companion, but retained that quizzical air of deep thinking that usually preceded either a brilliant escape plan or more running for their lives.

"What dangerous alien force is gonna try an take over the earth now?" Rose asked, resigned to the loss of her idyllic day.

"What are you on about? Oh, sorry, no, no aliens today, well, none besides me. No, tell me what you see about that girl," the Doctor said, nodding toward the girl on the bench they had slowly been approaching.

Rose dutifully looked at the source of his interest, expecting to be able to pinpoint something off about her. She slowly examined her, taking in every minute detail like she had been taught and relating her findings to the Doctor. Twenty-ish, apparently human, with a pale complexion topped by a long, loose mass of that peculiar shade of red-brown hair known as 'cinnamon'. Even sitting down, she could tell that the girl would be tall and lanky. Only her profile was visible at the angle they were viewing her from, but Rose could see wrinkles of intense concentration as the mystery girl focused on the open tome in her lap. She wore clothes that had the appearance of being chosen for comfort over fashion, beat-up jeans and a plain blue t-shirt along with white trainers. All in all, nothing out of the ordinary.

"She just looks like a student or summat." She was ready for his impatient eye-roll with a quickly threatened slap and was amused to see him actually wince. "Ok, Mr. I-know-everything-I'm-a Time-Lord-ain't-it-grand, what'm I missing?"

"Rose, you know everything that travels through time has a bit of an energy signature, right? You have it, I have it, hell, even Mickey the Idiot has it. So, Time Lords can sense when someone or something has been through the Vortex."

"So, this girl is a time traveler, too? What's so special 'bout that, then? Maybe she's a Time Agent, or a future companion of yours or summat." The Doctor looked at her, stunned with the casual mention of another companion, more importantly, a companion that wasn't her.

"Rose! Don't even mention that! YOU'RE my companion. I'm not just, mphh!" Rose stifled his objections with a kiss. Once she was sure she had his full attention, she leaned back and looked him straight in the eye.

"Doctor, I love traveling and I love being with you and I love YOU. But we both know anything could happen, so promise me, right now, that if I'm ever gone, you will find someone to travel with. I couldn't stand being the reason you were alone again. So, promise me, my Doctor, that you won't stay alone." She held his gaze, trying to convince him of her seriousness. The Doctor, for his part, found himself again marveling at the wonderful, caring, selfless, perfect being in front of him. That she could contemplate her own demise, as he would make damn sure nothing short of death would take her from him (and he was secretly working on removing even that obstacle), and only worry about _his_ well-being made his entire soul swell with pride, love and wonder. He pulled her closer and tucked her head under his chin.

"Oh, Rose, I don't deserve you," he whispered into her hair, still overcome with emotion. "I love you, so very much. I know I don't say it often, but I feel it, every second of every day. I honestly don't know what I'd do without you." He felt her shift and rubbed his hand down her hair, wanting to avoid having to answer her demand, but knowing it wasn't fair. "My Rose, I do promise to follow your request, but only if you do the same. This life of ours isn't safe, and as you pointed out, anything could happen, so you, Rose Tyler, you need to promise me that if something should happen to me, you will go on and live a fantastic life." He sensed more than saw her smile at his intentional use of that phrase. She nodded against his chest and he held her tight, not wanting the moment to end.

Soon, however, his ever irrepressible manic side made its appearance and he stepped out of their embrace. "Right, back to the problem at hand," he chirped. Rose only laughed at the many facets of the man, er, being, she loved. "Now, where were we, ah, yes. So I can sense that the studious young lady over there has been through the Vortex, but there's also something else there. Some sort of temporal disruption. I wonder…" The Doctor got a contemplative look on his face as he pulled out his glasses. The serious expression combined with the specs and the hand running idly through his hair very nearly made Rose forget her early qualms about snogging in public. He stalked silently closer to the object of his quandary, whom Rose was surprised to see was still on the bench deep in thought. She had to slap a hand over her mouth to restrain the gales of laughter the sight of her lover peering down at the oblivious girl.

The Doctor was now right in front of this enigma. _Good word, that, describes practically anything unknown, oh, right, focus_. He could feel the energy of normal time travel, but there was a darker power that pulsed through it, pulling at his senses like a black hole. _Ah, so that's it! _He bent down till he was nose to nose with the girl who was now aware of his presence.

He looked straight at her as he said with deadly seriousness, "You don't belong here."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: So, this was really a bizarre idea that came from far too much TV and reading over term break. Honestly, I had nothing to do with it!! It had to be written; it wasn't letting me study for my Later European Prehistory exam! Oh, and I apologize for the rather heavy-handed Doctor/Rose in the first chapter(s?), but I was still pouting over Doomsday!

This chappie is really just character development and basically a way to get the story to where I want it, so please bear with me! Action coming up, I swear!

Disclaimer: Oops, forgot this last time! I own absolutely nothing except the sitch and my character: Rachel.

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"You don't belong here." Rose was intrigued by the Doctor's words and more than a little interested in how this girl was going to take them. As she drew closer to the pair, though, her attention was captured by the stranger's eyes. At first glance, this person had seemed to be just another conscientious student bumping heads with a difficult subject. However, now that Rose could see her eyes, she was forced to revise her estimation. Ignoring momentarily the striking blue-grey irises lined by a deeper, almost indigo blue, the sheer intelligence and knowing that radiated from her gaze was an almost physical force. 

"Now, there's an ambiguous statement for ya. 'Here' is such an amorphous term, isn't it." The girl's voice was almost as much of a shock as her eyes. She had a quiet but firm tone, with a gentle American accent that brought to mind rolling fields of corn, despite her oddly precise diction. She continued, "Were you perchance referring to the physical, as in this specific bench? I'll agree, I really shouldn't be just sitting here indulging my naughty little urge to read something other than course work. Especially if you're indicating that this is in some way your personal bench, in which case I apologize profusely. Or were you indicating that I shouldn't be in this country, cos, again, you're correct, as you can no doubt tell by my accent. Oh, please tell me you aren't one of those rabid anti-American people! Honestly, I have no say in how our less-than-illustrious president runs the country. As they say, 'I voted for the other guy.' Or," this was said in a sharper tone, with a slight narrowing of those startling eyes, "Or, were you perhaps referencing this particular manifestation of time/space known as London, England 2007?"

This astonishing, near Doctor-worthy, ramble had Rose whipping her head around to the Doctor, only to find him staring, with an adorably open-mouthed expression of pure shock on his face. She couldn't help it; the giggles completely took over.

"H-how…wha…_huh_?" _Oh, pull yourself together! This is disgraceful!_ He shook himself slightly, trying to pull his not-inconsiderable mind back from its unintended vacation. "Right, ok, much better. Quite a few questions pop into mind from that little speech o' yours. Rambling really isn't a good habit for a young thing like you to pick up. Gives an impression of weakness of mind." He was valiantly trying to ignore Rose, who was practically rolling on the ground, snorting with hysterical laughter at his gall in criticizing someone else's rambling. "So, number one, who the devil are you? Number two, how did you, (Rose, would you stop, please?!) happen to acquire an energy signature from the Vortex, which, of course, ties in to number three, which is, how can (Rose, honestly!) sorry, how can you possibly know that I was referring to the temporal aspect of 'here', unless of course, you actually are a Time Agent, as Rose suggested? That would be neat and (By Rassilon, Rose, if you don't stop…) tidy, excepting the massive anomaly I noticed originally, which brings me back to my original question of 'Who are you?'"

The mystery girl had been looking on the exchange with a more-than-slightly irritating knowing look which the Doctor should have been able to recognize as one of his own.

"In answer to your first and last questions, my name is Rachel Bailey. I'm, as you no doubt can tell, American, but in England for grad school. In answer to your other questions, which it pains me to admit that I didn't fully understand, appearances can be deceiving. While I _was_ absorbed in my reading, I was still perfectly aware of your approach and subsequent discussion seeing as how I'm neither blind nor deaf. Ya know, if you want to have a private conversation about someone, which is rather rude, by the way, you really shouldn't stand three feet away from said someone. Anyway, as you seemed inordinately interested in time, I decided to see how you would react if I threw out that subject. Plus, I'm obsessed with scifi and couldn't resist." Her façade of omnipotence was abruptly shattered by a very impudent grin that instantly reduced her appearance to that of a cheeky teenager. Rose found herself drawn to the girl, not only for her amusing ability to reduce the Doctor to incoherence, but also because she seemed to be a kindred spirit: able to adjust to any situation.

Rachel had in fact been observing the couple for some time while she appeared to read her book. They were well-matched; a number of clues were readily apparent as to the extent of their feelings for each other. That was what had drawn her attention in the first place. Such complete confidence in another person was rare and she was never one to pass up the opportunity to study the intricacies of human relations. Her obsession with knowing everything about anything was what had driven her to anthropology; it allowed her a little more freedom to pursue the more eclectic of her interests as anthropologists were generally accepted as weird. Even her parents, being well-educated middle class, had never really understood their daughter's inquisitive nature, although they had good-naturedly dragged themselves to every museum, art gallery, and lecture that had caught her eye. To say she was intrigued by the couple in front of her would be an understatement; she just had to get to the bottom of this! Deciding it was her turn to go on the offensive, Rachel inquired, "And just who might the two of you be? I've been more than tolerant in answering your questions and turn about is fair play. I'm really rather interested in your explanation of the more, unusual, shall we say, parts of your questions."

The Doctor was flummoxed for a brief moment, trying to regain his sense of equilibrium. At least Rose had quieted down, giving him time to think. He had briefly regretted his opening tactic of confrontation, especially when it was made clear that this girl knew nothing about time travel, other than the ridiculous drivel presented by TV, that great human soporific. But then again, there was that odd dark, pulsing energy that he had recognized. Maybe he should think this out, wait, actually plan? Him? That was almost as bad as going domestic. _Oh, right. Focus._ He ran his hand through his hair, trying to think about how to go about this. "Right, well, this is going to be difficult for you to accept, tiny little unimaginative human brains, can't stretch your mind to even contemplate something…Right, anyway," he trailed off at a glare from Rose, who took the opportunity to interject.

"Maybe we should talk 'bout this somewhere else? As in, not public?" Rose was slightly worried that whatever mystery surrounded Rachel seemed to have thrown the Doctor off balance. On the rare occasions she had seen that happen, something always went wrong, even more than usual. Rose suddenly realized that their cryptic remarks hadn't explained a thing and that the poor girl was probably more bewildered about these two bizarre strangers that had accosted her. She smiled reassuringly at Rachel, asking, "Do you have a flat or someplace close we could go an' talk? I know this is weird, two strangers an' all, but my friend here usually knows what he's talkin' about, so when he talks about trouble, it's usually a good idea to listen." The Doctor shot her an approving grin. _Trust Rose to know exactly what to say to make people feel at ease._

Rachel considered their request, cocking her head slightly in her habitual thinking pose. There was no reason to trust these two, but her intuition told her she could and she always followed her gut instinct. She stood, saying, "My flat's close by and I don't think my roommate is in right now. Before we go though, I would like to at least know your names."

Rose breathed a sigh of relief. Not for the first time, she wondered how the Doctor managed to convey a sense of trustworthiness to complete strangers. She had trusted him from their first meeting, after all, never questioning that feeling. Well, not much.

"Well, I'm the Doctor and this is Rose Tyler. Lots and lots to talk about, but as Rose pointed out, probably not the best idea to discuss things here." He continued to burble on as they headed for Rachel's modest flat, managing to draw out details about her life, trying to determine where, when and how she had picked up that anomaly that surrounded her like an aura.

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A/N: Rubbish place to leave it, I know, but I couldn't keep this chapter going without spilling too much info. Please, please review!! And do be kind; this is my firstborn!! 


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